Gosport heavyweight powers to brilliant silver

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Dean Bowring was ‘absolutely delighted’ with his silver medal at the World Championship in Stavanger, Norway.

Only a world record from Ukrainian strongman Rokochiy Oleksiy thwarted his quest for gold.

The second place Bowring collected was his best-ever performance in the heavyweight class, after dropping a few pounds to make it into the 120kg discipline.

An overall points score of 1,027 from his three lifts allowed the 39-year-old to sneak ahead of third-placed Belgian, Billican Orhan, by just two points.

Bowring said: ‘I got 400 in the squat and 350 in the deadlift, which was good.

‘The 277 in the bench was a bit below what I’m capable of.

‘Part of that was down to the fact I wasn’t able to train properly because of an elbow injury.

‘But to be that close to someone setting a new world record is a nice feeling.’

If Oleksiy hadn’t competed in the event, Bowring would have collected a first world championship title at 120kg, which would have been the perfect accompaniment to his 2009 crown at the over-120kg classification.

He won gold at the Indian IPF World Championships in 2009 at the super-heavyweight category – but is still yet to taste gold at heavyweight level.

Bowring is confident more success at his new weight could be in the offing, though.

And the experienced powerlifter – called out of retirement by the Great British Powerlifting Federation (GBPF) – is still targeting gold medals.

He said: ‘I wanted to cut down on events but I keep getting dragged back in by the GBPF.

‘It’s like any walk of life where, just when you think you’re done, you keep getting people telling you to come back.

‘I started lifting over 20 years ago but I still love the sport and still have the passion for it.